Optional State Supplementation

Funding

Administration: State funds.

Assistance: State funds.

Passalong method: Maintaining payment levels.

Place of application: Local offices of the state Department of Health and Welfare.

Scope of coverage: Optional state supplement provided to all SSI recipients, including children, residing in the specified living arrangements. Persons living in the household of another are included under the living independently standard; state supplement is increased to offset the reduced federal payment.

Resource limitations: Federal SSI regulations apply.

Income exclusions: Federal SSI regulations apply; in-kind support and maintenance is also excluded unless received as wages.

Recoveries, liens, and assignments: None.

Financial responsibility of relatives: Spouse for spouse; parent or stepparent for minor child.

Interim assistance: State does not participate.

Payment calculation method: A standard applies that is established by the state for the total SSI payment. The federal SSI payment and any countable income are deducted from the state standard. The remainder is the state supplementation.

SOURCES: Social Security Administration, Office of Income Security Programs; state information.

NOTE: … = not applicable.

a. State supplement is increased to offset the reduced federal payment for persons living in the household of another.

b. Couples are treated as two individuals starting with the month after leaving an independent living arrangement.

DEFINITIONS:

Living independently or in the household of another.

Includes recipients living in their own household (i.e., house, apartment, hotel, rooming house, or room and board facility) or in the household of another. Also includes blind or disabled children living with their parents and individuals paying room and board to a relative.

Living with an essential person.

Includes recipients living in their own household or in the household of another with a person of their choice whose presence in the household is essential to the recipients' well-being and who renders specific services of a kind that would have to be provided for the recipients if they lived alone.

Room and board facility.

A facility in which a person purchases food, shelter, and household maintenance requirements from one vendor. Such a facility is not required to be licensed as a shelter home.

Assisted living facility or certified family home.

One or more buildings constitutes a facility or residence, however named, that is operated on either a profit or nonprofit basis for the purpose of providing 24-hour care for three or more adults who need personal care or assistance and supervision essential for sustaining activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual.

Semi-independent group residential facility.

A facility having one or more living areas under a common management in which an opportunity to learn independent living skills is provided under individualized service plans to not less than three nor more than eight developmentally disabled or mentally ill persons not requiring direct supervision.

Number of recipients: See Table 2.

Table 2. Number of persons receiving optional state supplementation, January 2008

Living arrangement

Total

Aged

Blind

Disabled

Adults

Children

All recipients

13,028

2,286

36

9,562

1,144

Living independently or in the household of another, or living with an essential person

12,333

2,214

34

9,001

1,084

Room and board facility

647

55

2

530

60

Assisted living facility or certified family home

12

9

0

3

0

Semi-independent group residential facility

36

8

0

28

0

SOURCE: State information.

Total expenditures: The state reported expenditures of $8,884,782 for calendar year 2007 in state-administered payments to SSI recipients.

State Assistance for Special Needs

Administration

State Department of Health and Welfare.

Special Needs Circumstances

Restaurant meals: Eating-out allowance of up to $50 per month if physically unable to prepare meals.

Maintenance for service animals: Allowance for care and maintenance of service animals of up to $17 per month.